The British newspaper Financial Times, citing informed sources, reported in the evening of June 5 about the $ 1 billion buy-back that Qatar's fighters and al-Qaeda operatives received to release the hostages. The emirate went for it for the sake of freedom of 26 members of the royal family who fell into the hands of terrorists on falconry in southern Iraq in December 2015, writes RIA Novosti news agency..

The June 6 rupture of diplomatic relations between all countries of the Persian Gulf with Doha was explained by the fact that Qatar finances terrorists. Immediately four Arab states - Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia - severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting Islamists. Following them, Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius and the authorities of eastern Libya declared a break in diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Details of such financial support were published in the FT. In addition to the captured members of the royal family, the authorities of Qatar redeemed 50 soldiers who were captured by the Islamists in Syria.

According to media reports, Qatar's ransom was transferred to Syria's Bashar al-Assad armies in a group linked to Al-Qaeda (banned in the Russian Federation), as well as to the security services of Iran involved in organizing the exchange. Negotiations on the release of the hostages lasted more than a year, Iran, Qatar and the Lebanese group Hezbollah took part in them,. In April 2017, 26 members of the royal hunt were released and handed over to the Ambassador of Qatar in Iraq.